AUTHOR ARCHIVES

Eric Katz

Eric Katz joined Government Executive in the summer of 2012 after graduating from The George Washington University, where he studied journalism and political science. He has written for his college newspaper and an online political news website and worked in a public affairs office for the Navy’s Military Sealift Command. Most recently, he worked for Financial Times, where he reported on national politics.

October 7, 2014
The Labor Department on Tuesday issued final rules for raising the minimum wage for employees of federal contractors, setting the stage for all such workers on new contracts to earn at least $10.10 per hour starting Jan. 1. The regulation follows an executive order issued by President Obama in February ...

October 6, 2014
A former Veterans Affairs Department nurse is suing the agency for allegedly shorting her overtime pay, claiming many more employees would benefit from the suit. Annamma Samji, who worked as a nurse at a New Jersey facility from September 2012 through October 2013, said VA violated the Fair Labor Standards ...

September 30, 2014
In just a few months beginning mid-2013, the American people’s confidence in the federal government’s ability to administer security clearances was upended. First, cleared contractor Edward Snowden leaked thousands of pages of classified data on the National Security Agency’s surveillance activities. Then contractor Aaron Alexis fatally shot 12 people at ...

September 29, 2014
In just a few months beginning mid-2013, the American people’s confidence in the federal government’s ability to administer security clearances was upended. First, cleared contractor Edward Snowden leaked thousands of pages of classified data on the National Security Agency’s surveillance activities. Then contractor Aaron Alexis fatally shot 12 people at ...

September 25, 2014
Civil service reform may not be the sexiest issue, but Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., has certainly found the sexiest component of it. Meadows has introduced a bill to “prohibit the access of a pornographic or other explicit website from a federal computer.” The lawmaker was prompted to propose the ban ...

September 24, 2014
The U.S. Postal Service is always looking for fresh ideas to create new revenue streams, and it may have come up with its freshest one yet. The cash-strapped agency is looking to deliver groceries to homes in select metropolitan areas nationwide, as part of a pilot program it hopes can ...

September 23, 2014
B. Generally speaking, an appointee has 90 days from the date of confirmation to divest of necessary stocks. C. Generally speaking, appointees must recuse themselves from such a company for one year before they can begin working with the company. D. Appointees are generally expected to recuse themselves from agency ...

September 23, 2014
Career federal employees are subject to tough regulations governing their conduct. But for many of their political bosses, the rules are even more complicated. The Office of Government Ethics on Monday released the first update in six years on creating Ethics Agreements for presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed employees. Agencies must run ...

September 22, 2014
The U.S. Postal Service will soon add thousands of union jobs to its rolls, a major postal labor group announced Monday. Thanks to an independent arbitration ruling earlier this month, USPS will add or convert at least 9,000 jobs previously held by part-time, non-union employees to bargaining unit positions. At ...

September 19, 2014
The Senate on Thursday unanimously approved a bill to overhaul pay for law enforcement officials at Customs and Border Protection. The Border Patrol Pay Reform Act aims to “dramatically simplify” compensation for CBP agents, including through the elimination of Administratively Uncontrollable Overtime. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the changes ...